Clown in a Cornfield opens in theaters May 9.
Some titles let you already know precisely what you’re in for, and if Clown in a Cornfield isn’t a memoir by a Midwestern comic, then it will probably solely be a slasher. Adapted from Adam Cesare’s acclaimed 2020 novel, it’s stuffed with rowdy teenagers who drink after which die by the hands of, sure, a red-nosed madman in a maize crop. The supply materials could also be shelved within the YA part, however it and its R-rated adaptation pull few punches by way of loss of life and violence, working greatest within the no-nonsense throwback mode that matches the easy, descriptive title. But previous the midway level, Clown in a Cornfield grasps for better thematic weight, and there it withers, a promising crop that by no means fairly grows to maturity.
Our soon-to-be-final woman is highschool senior Quinn Maybrook (Katie Douglas). Originally from Philadelphia, she’s wrestling not simply together with her mother’s loss of life however together with her dad’s (Aaron Abrams) impulsive technique of coping by transferring them to Kettle Springs, Missouri, the place he’s taken a job because the city physician. That there might be such a factor as a “city physician” tells you all the things it’s good to know in regards to the measurement of Kettle Springs. It’s a type of locations the place all people is aware of all people else, and all people is aware of the native teenagers that Quinn falls in with are hassle. They’re the worst kind of delinquents: YouTubers.
Led by dreamy wealthy child Cole Hill (Carson MacCormac), the teenagers have refashioned native establishment Frendo the clown into the grinning star of their DIY horror shorts. The mascot of Kettle Springs’ now-shuttered principal supply of business, the Baypen Corn Syrup Factory, Frendo’s face is plastered throughout city – a ubiquity that leaves us guessing whether or not the clown is a supernatural entity or a masked assailant as soon as the murders within the children’ movies begin occurring IRL. Director and co-writer Eli Craig is understood for horror comedies like hicksploitation send-up Tucker and Dale vs. Evil, and he clearly has enjoyable conceiving prankish fake-out scares for Cole and firm. But except for just a few winks like an ill-fated teen encountering a clown-sized shoeprint, Craig begins out by enjoying the slasher notes with a fairly straight face and a easy competence. There’s no joke to the digital camera following a sufferer from one room to the following, toying with our expectations of when (or if) Frendo will strike. Coupled with a powerful, likable lead in Quinn, the unvarnished slasher Clown in a Cornfield seems to be throughout its early stretches is nearly comforting.
Unfortunately, there’s a twist lurking on the horizon, and it complicates that unfussy enchantment. Without giving an excessive amount of away, battle between the youngsters and adults in Kettle Springs has already reached its boiling level. Quinn clocks it fairly early on – too early, on condition that she’s solely encountered just a few of the city’s authority figures. Beyond telegraphing the massive reveal, the difference additionally dilutes the political backdrop of Cesare’s supply materials, muddying the supply of generational strife into obscure buzzwords and snicker traces.
And that’s the opposite downside with the latter half of Clown in a Cornfield: The tone will get goofier because it goes alongside. The circumstances grow to be rather more grave, and within the absence of teenagers kidding round and taking pictures movies on their telephones, Craig’s comedian instincts don’t have any outlet besides to leak into the motion. Multiple deaths are wholly undercut by jokey dialogue, and youths scream in despair after they can’t determine tips on how to use a rotary telephone. Just a few of those scenes actually are humorous, however they hold puncturing the stress whereas the plot builds towards mealy-mouthed commentary that’s even more durable to take severely.
But even with the movie’s throwback charms, there’s a lingering sense that our pal Frendo has missed his cultural second, with little to differentiate himself from a protracted cinematic custom of masked murderers and/or killer clowns. Apart from one late-film use of a cattle prod, the all-important slasher film kills listed below are quick on invention, bloody however by no means visceral and even inventive – one is so simple as Frendo firing a crossbow. Clown in a Cornfield can’t assist however come off as a bit tame and unremarkable by comparability to the over-the-top clown cruelty of the Terrifier motion pictures or the town-mascot-driven carnage of Thanksgiving. It’s the kind of factor you would possibly half-watch within the background of a Halloween occasion and by no means be impressed to ask what the title is – although it’d be fairly straightforward to guess it.
